Science and research funding – international comparisons

The UK spend on R&D in 2008 was the equivalent of 1.8% of GDP, well below the 2.34% OECD average. The UK ranked 16th out of 30 countries, behind nations such as Israel, Finland, Sweden, Japan and Korea (all above 3%), and Switzerland, Denmark, the USA, Germany, Austria and Iceland (all above 2.5%).

Secures our economic future; make ours a civilised society; promotes active citizenship; enables people to play a full part in their community; strengthens the family, the neighbourhood and the nation. Colleges and universities in the UK collectively work towards these aims for both young people and adults.

HE graduates contributed 1.08% to the annual GDP growth of 1.66% on average in 2000-10; those whose level of education was below upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary actually made a negative contribution to GDP growth.

There is substantial evidence that funding for colleges and universities is an investment in the country’s future, both in terms of the ability to create jobs and help deliver social and economic equity. Currently spending on tertiary education by the UK is around 1.3% of gross domestic product. This compares to the average in OECD countries of 1.6%, with the UK well below leading economies such as the USA and Korea (2.6%), Canada (2.5%), Sweden (1.8%) and Japan (1.6%). We want the UK governments to take a lead in raising funding for tertiary education to the OECD average of 1.6% of GDP.

What our supporters say

“Too many of my students are disillusioned with their futures – even as they pay three times more to secure the ‘future’ that the Government has held out to them; too many of my hard-working colleagues find themselves having to justify their contributions to society and culture according to measurements that test ‘value’ according to a failing capitalist economic structure.”